Hello -
I have been seeking an application for a few years, have tried several commercial apps, none have done the trick for me. I have a job where my my function is fixing things, a variety of things. In addition I also prepare reports (who doesn't anymore??) including weekly and monthly status reports, order parts, general gofer work, etc.
What I would like is some sort of way to write in a diary what I do. I want it to be able to tell me the history of how many of the various "things" I have worked on, or tell me what I did for a range of dates, or tell me something about a particular "thing."
For example, were I an automobile mechanic, I would want to know what I did last two weeks, how many Volkswagens I worked on this year, what I did to Volkswagen Jetta's, Beetles, and Dodge pick up trucks, which cars I did front end alignments on, and what other sorts of things, like prepare reports on cars or reports on Volkswagen maintenance.
Outlook's calendar function comes close - but is not really very easy to sort by both date and job function, without making several entries for one day's work.
I did try a simple Access Database - it seemed like overkill to use Access for this Data - there are not that many fields or tables. Additionally, I would like a little more powerful text editor for inputing data.
I would also like the database to be searchable for a phrase or keyword.
I have been learning more about Word VBA - and wonder if that might be a direction to pursue. As I said, I have looked at some commercial applications, have not found anything that meets my needs. Most journals I have looked at are just about like Outlook's Calendar function. I did try setting up a lengthy Word Document which I either order the entries by date or function. However, then to generate trip reports, monthly reports, etc. I have to do a lot of cut and pasting. Seems very inefficient to me.
Surely somebody else out there must also have my needs - is there something available, or should I look to use Access??
Thanks a lot
Scott
I have been seeking an application for a few years, have tried several commercial apps, none have done the trick for me. I have a job where my my function is fixing things, a variety of things. In addition I also prepare reports (who doesn't anymore??) including weekly and monthly status reports, order parts, general gofer work, etc.
What I would like is some sort of way to write in a diary what I do. I want it to be able to tell me the history of how many of the various "things" I have worked on, or tell me what I did for a range of dates, or tell me something about a particular "thing."
For example, were I an automobile mechanic, I would want to know what I did last two weeks, how many Volkswagens I worked on this year, what I did to Volkswagen Jetta's, Beetles, and Dodge pick up trucks, which cars I did front end alignments on, and what other sorts of things, like prepare reports on cars or reports on Volkswagen maintenance.
Outlook's calendar function comes close - but is not really very easy to sort by both date and job function, without making several entries for one day's work.
I did try a simple Access Database - it seemed like overkill to use Access for this Data - there are not that many fields or tables. Additionally, I would like a little more powerful text editor for inputing data.
I would also like the database to be searchable for a phrase or keyword.
I have been learning more about Word VBA - and wonder if that might be a direction to pursue. As I said, I have looked at some commercial applications, have not found anything that meets my needs. Most journals I have looked at are just about like Outlook's Calendar function. I did try setting up a lengthy Word Document which I either order the entries by date or function. However, then to generate trip reports, monthly reports, etc. I have to do a lot of cut and pasting. Seems very inefficient to me.
Surely somebody else out there must also have my needs - is there something available, or should I look to use Access??
Thanks a lot
Scott
